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Honorary Degrees

Submitted by Julie Huisingh on Tue, 1999-04-13 11:40

Hope College will present honorary degrees to Maurice Kawashima and Dr. Richard Wunder on Friday, April 23.

Each will receive the Doctor of Letters. The degrees will be conferred during a dinner at the college. "Richard Wunder is a scholar and a notable expert in the field of art history, and he was formerly a vice president of Christie's in New York," said Dr. John H. Jacobson, president of Hope College. "Beginning nearly 20 years ago he took a strong interest in Hope College and gave generously from his own collection of art books to our library, and also encouraged some of his friends and professional associates to make comparable gifts." "Maurice Kawashima is a well-known and highly- regarded expert on various aspects of the clothing industry. Until recently he was a professor at the Fashion Institute of Design in New York City," he said. "He is also a highly knowledgeable collector of artworks. He made a magnificent gift of recent and contemporary Japanese ceramics to the college." "They have each played a significant role in fostering and furthering the college's relationship with Kenji Tanaka and Technos International University in Japan, which has benefitted Hope College in many ways," he said. Kawashima established his own fashion company, Masaaki New York. His career has included serving as a chief designer for Daimaru Inc. in Japan; as a designer for Elizabeth Arden Sales Corp., N.Y., and Nicholas Sportswear Inc., N.Y.; and an assistant designer for Pauline Trigere, N.Y., and Sarff-Zumpano Inc., N.Y. He established the Safari line for Suzuya Company Inc., Japan, and mounted his own fashion shows held in Hotel Okura, Tokyo, and at the United Nations in New York. He was a professor of fashion design with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York from 1965 to 1990, the first Japanese-born faculty member to be granted full professorship with tenure. Since 1965 he has also been a guest professor with the Bunka College of Fashion and an honorary professor with the Chyo Tanaka School of Fashion, Tokyo. Kawashima's publications include the books "Standard Text of Pattern Grading," "Fundamentals of Men's Fashion Design" and "Men's Outerwear Design--Fundamentals of Pattern Making." He holds Japanese patents on three special measuring instruments used in the fashion industry. He has received various international awards in fashion design, and has been cited in numerous Japanese and English language publications relative to his career and fashion designs. He is a Commander brother in the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, an honor bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Kawashima was born in Tokyo, Japan, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1975. He holds a bachelor's degree from Bunka College of Fashion, an associate degree in applied science from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a certificate in fashion design from Parsons School of Design in New York. Wunder is a past president of Christie, Manson and Woods International Appraisals, New York. His career has also included serving as a senior research fellow with the Smithsonian Institution; as founding director of the Cooper- Hewitt National Museum of Design, Smithsonian Institution, New York; as assistant director, and as curator of paintings and sculpture, of the National Collection of Fine Arts (today the National Museum of American Art), Smithsonian Institution, New York; as curator of drawings and prints with the Museum for the Arts of Decoration, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; and as assistant to the director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. He has been a lecturer in the fine arts at Middlebury College, where he was the John Hamilton Fulton Lecturer during 1975-76; a professor of art with the United States Department of Agriculture; and a professor of chalcography with the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. His books include "Extravagant Drawings of the Eighteenth Century in the Cooper Union Museum," "Frederic Edwin Church" and "Hiram Powers: Vermont Sculptor." Wunder was named a knight of the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1987, and received the Smithsonian Institution's Charles Eldredge Prize in 1992. He served with the United States Army in the European Theatre during World War II, and in the continental United States from 1950 to 1952. Wunder holds his bachelor's degree from Harvard College, and his master's and doctorate from Harvard University. His doctoral emphasis is on the history and principals of the fine arts, with a specialty in French and Italian art of the 17th and 18th centuries, and also American 19th century art.